Accountability

• Promote accountability and transparency around government efforts to implement the VAAF.

Progress

• The VAAF has been extended until June 2025 to allow time to develop a new Framework in alignment with the Treaty process. The 2023 VGAAR data gathering and analysis has begun. A number of data items will not be published this year due to lack of updated data.
• FPSR will continue authoring of report and with feedback from Aboriginal governance forums and Ngaweeyan Maar-oo.

Barriers and mitigation strategy

• The extension of the VAAF and any delay to development a new VAAF risks it becoming unresponsive to the current needs and aspirations of Aboriginal stakeholders. Several data sources for VAAF measures have become redundant due to surveys and programs being cancelled.
• FPSR will address any necessary changes to the reporting framework in partnership with First Peoples stakeholders.
• The VGAAR is an increasingly complex product to develop and publish which risks not adequately meeting the needs of different audiences.
• More engagement and review time for Aboriginal Governance Forums to capture the nuance and tone.

Next steps in 2024

• Finalise and table 2023 VGAAR before 30 June 2024.

• Supporting access to data for First Peoples.

Progress

• The VAAF has been extended until June 2025 to allow time to develop a new Framework in alignment with the Treaty process. The 2023 VGAAR data gathering and analysis has begun. A number of data items will not be published this year due to lack of updated data.
• FPSR will continue authoring of report and with feedback from Aboriginal governance forums and Ngaweeyan Maar-oo.

Barriers and mitigation strategy

• The current environment for the dashboard is a barrier to responding to user needs.
• DPC will work with DGS and other departments to rebuild dashboard.

Next steps in 2024

• Scoping a potential rebuild of the VAAF data dashboard to be launched in 2024.

• Address trauma and support healing for Stolen Generations, and support self-determination in the delivery of the Package.

Progress

• FPSR continue to support DJCS to deliver the Package and are working with DJCS to confirm an approach to delivering in-person apologies. This work is on track, with senior ministers, such as the Premier, the Attorney-General and the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, to deliver the apologies. This approach is in line with the Stolen Generations Reparations Advisory Committee's preference.
• The delivery of in-person apologies is expected to begin in 2024.

Barriers and mitigation strategy

• There is a level of urgency needed to deliver the in-person apologies, noting the aging cohort of Stolen Generations members, and the number of priority applicants who are terminally ill. There is a risk that by the time the in-person apologies are being delivered, some applicants may pass away.
• There are administrative hurdles that may impact delivering in-person apologies in a timely manner, including scheduling time in Ministers' calendars.

Next steps in 2024

• Support DJCS to establish and deliver an in-person apologies process, as per recommendation eight of the Final Report of the Stolen Generations Steering Committee.

• Support genuine, transparent and purposeful government participation in the Commission’s truth-telling.

Progress

• FPSR has responded to one recommendation in the Commission's first Interim Report – Yoorrook with Purpose – by extending the Commission's inquiry until June 2025. FPSR is actively working on the second recommendation - to protect First Peoples’ records provided to the Commission - including by establishing a working group to develop and consider options for legislative reform.
• FPSR engaged with the Commission, the Governor's Office, and Parliament to enable and coordinate the delivery and tabling of the Commission's second Interim report — Yoorrook for Justice— delivered by the Commission on 31 August 2023.
• The State has committed to considering and responding to the Report’s 46 recommendations in the first half of 2024.
• At 25 October 2023, FPSR has coordinated the State and DPC’s response to 34 Notices to Produce (NTPs) issued by the Commission under the Inquiries Act 2014 (Vic) since its establishment. DPC has also responded to informal requests for information to support the Commission's inquiries, consistent with the State's policy approach of transparent and cooperative engagement with the truth telling process.
• DPC has coordinated the preparation and delivery of background papers to the Commission on land injustice topics and will commence preparation of State witnesses to appear before the Commission in 2024, including the Premier and the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples.
• FPSR has coordinated the State's engagement with the Commission’s Land Injustice line of inquiry - coordinating the response to NTPs (approx. 4,000 documents produced), the development of 23 background papers, responses to the Commission’s request for information (358 questions), and the preparation of 11 witnesses to provide evidence, to the Commission, some of whom will appear at land injustice hearings (Hearing Block 6).

Barriers and mitigation strategy

• Risks include meeting the Commission's timelines, as information requests can be lengthy and complex with short timeframes for response. This is mitigated by early engagement with the Commission seeking clarity and insight on future requests to enable the State to begin preparations as early as possible.
• The Yoorrook for Justice report recommends significant reforms across the child protection and criminal justice systems. This will require multiple departments, portfolios and ministers coming to an agreed position, which was worked on throughout late 2023. In addition, some of the recommended reforms may be the subject of treaty negotiations.

Next steps in 2024

• FPSR will continue to respond to requests from the Commission, including NTPs, requests for witness statements and requests for information/background papers. FPSR will also continue to coordinate/support the State's response to these requests (including governance for the IDC and whole of Victorian Government Working Group). The development of DPC's policy submissions will be in response to the Commission's lines of inquiry.
• DPC is progressing a whole of government process to respond to the Yoorrook for Justice report, with government committing to providing a response to the Commission in the first half of 2024.
• Social Injustice inquiry – DPC will support the State’s response to the Commission’s imminent Social Injustice request for information and preparations for Hearing Blocks 7 (Social Injustice) and 8 (Accountability).

• Deliver on government’s commitment to improved outcomes for First Peoples through Aboriginal ACCO sector strengthening, strong partnerships, government transformation and data sharing.

Progress

• The Partnership Forum is guiding the delivery of various initiatives due under the National Agreement and coordinating responsibility sits with both DPC and Ngaweeyan Maar-oo.
• The Partnership Forum are currently progressing Victoria's Aboriginal Expenditure Review, the allocation of Victoria's sector-strengthening funding pool, Victoria's Place Based Partnership and Community Data Project.
• The Treaty Negotiation Framework requires that Statewide Treaty negotiations consider whether, and if so how, forms of institutional oversight by First Peoples for the benefit of First Peoples should be created. The Victorian Government will seek to align negotiations regarding institutional oversight with the independent evaluation mechanism required under the National Agreement.

Barriers and mitigation strategy

• The Closing the Gap funding will lapse in the next financial year. Further funding will be required and sought in 2025/26 after current funding lapses to deliver on all commitments under the National Agreement.

Next steps in 2024

• DPC continues to support the Partnership Forum as it progresses through its establishment phase, to enable decision-making in 2024. Ngarweeyan Maar-oo secretariat is established and funded and will be increasingly taking a role in coordinating Partnership Forum meetings.

Continue to work with Aboriginal organisations to increase engagement with and a level of accountability to the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCO) sector across governance groups and forum.

Coordinate work to support the Partnership Forum to enhance the self-determined nature of government’s Closing the Gap partnership.

• Promote self-determination in decision-making partnerships, including through broad and representative engagement with First Peoples’ communities.

Progress

• The full Partnership Forum has met four times.
• At the December 2023 meeting, the Partnership Forum endorsed DPC seeking approval to allocate $540,000 from Victoria’s $3.3 million Sector Strengthening Fund to implement an Early Years Proposal.
• In June 2023, Joint Council endorsed Gippsland as the Victorian location for a combined Place-based Partnership and Community Data Project.
• DPC have been working with Ngaweeyan Maar-oo to establish a working group to further scope the proposal in partnership with local communities ACCOs in Gippsland.

Barriers and mitigation strategy

• There has been some delay in getting the Partnership Forum to a stage at which it is equipped and resourced to make strategic decisions.
• DPC are working in partnership with Ngaweeyan Maar-oo to address matters requiring decision and forward planning for the future of Closing the Gap implementation. FPSR and Ngawyeean Maar-oo meet regularly between Partnership Forum meetings to maintain progress.
• Progressing key commitments with usual intensity and pace has been impacted during the Commonwealth Voice Referendum debate, given and the strain on First Peoples and organisations to fully engage in business-as-usual.

Next steps in 2024

• Priorities for the next reporting period include maximising the potential of the Partnership Forum for substantive discussion and consequential decision-making to progress Victoria’s commitments under the National Agreement.